Twelve to Twenty

Here is a summary of babies number 12 to 20 that I have delivered in India.


While we do their checkups on them, we pray for them and their new life, and ask God for a name for them.
Names have meanings, so afterwards we look up the names, and it usually lines up with how we prayed for them. It’s pretty cool.

But the parents choose the real name, later.


Also, in the photos, you may see a pink or yellow tag tied to their wrist.
Pink means girl, yellow means boy,
they write the mother’s name and other stats on the tag,
to not mix up the babies.


Here we go.

#12. Matthew Martin.

In India, I became a “preteen” starting with birth number 12.
The mother’s name was Leela, and she delivered a good-sized baby boy.
As I prayed for the baby I got the names Matthew Martin.
I couldn’t hardly get a picture with the mom because almost immediately after delivery she was already on a stretcher and being whisked upstairs to postnatal.
This is me giving her the baby and then running down the hall with her...


#13. Christian.

I became a teenager (number of births now in the teens)
with birth number 13.
As I was with the mother in her labour, she was crying out to Jesus, and asked us to pray for her.
Turns out she’s a believing Christian. There were five of us around her encouraging her as she pushed that baby out, and she was so, so pleased that for her first baby, he was surrounded by Christians at his birth.

Funnily enough, as I prayed for the baby, I got the name Christian for him.
She was very sweet, the mother’s name is Sunitha Esther, and the husband’s name is Timothy.

This photo was taken by a guy on our team who’s really good at photography. He was in the Hospital doing a documentary about healthcare, so I happened to get a pro photo with my precious little guy.
This is the newborn at one hour old.

A few days later, I bumped into the family again at the hospital when they came for a checkup. I was just about to eat lunch, and they bought me chapatis. This is the day when my parents came to the hospital, so they got to meet them too.
I also got to do a homevisit with them, this is the baby at 2 months old. He’s looking very cute. They are a very special family, wanting to do all things right.


#14. Christine.

I don’t have a photo for this one, because it happened so fast,
and once again, she and the baby were whisked off to postnatal right away.

The mother’s name was Ruby, she was twenty, and this was her second child.
She was married at 18. She had a baby girl, I got the name Christine for her.
She was Muslim, and she was saying that her grandmother will not be happy that she had a girl. But Ruby said that she was very happy, and her husband would be as well.

It’s a sad but true fact that a very large percentage of women are disappointed when they see that they’ve delivered a girl.
Boys just mean more promise and security to them, and there is usually a lot of pressure from the family to have boys.

In India, when they have an ultrasound, it is not allowed to tell them if it is a girl or a boy... because if they found out it was a girl early on, many of them would have abortions.
So they never know what the sex is until the baby is delivered.

It’s really sad to see some mother’s faces fall when they see that they’ve had a girl.
They experience pressure from the family, and anticipating raising a girl and what that means.

When girls get married,
they go to live with the husband's family,
thus officially leaving their parents, and never coming back.
So parents with sons inherit the wives and the families, whereas parents with daughters lose them to marriage, and are left with no one.

Also, girls are expensive,
because of the dowry...
which means the parents of the girl
give (pay) a large sum of money to the husband's family when she gets married. It's almost like paying to marry her off.
Apparently by law in India the dowry system is banned now,
but it still happens like usual.

So if you have 4 girls, and no boys, you have no one to take care of you for when you are old.
It has a ripple effect into the whole family.
So in India, news of a girl baby can be a "damper" on things.
Pretty much: keep trying until you get at least one boy.

It's terrible.
The value of women is much less than men,
and it is evident in so many ways.

But Ruby was happy.
Her first was a boy, and now she has a girl.
She was excited to have one of each.


#15. Josephine Clara

Well into the teens with
baby number 15.
Another beautiful girl.
Mother’s second baby.
She has such a cute little face!




I knit that little purple hat she’s wearing.
We usually put hats on the babies to keep them warm, as they lose heat pretty quickly.
We call them “helmets of salvation”, like Ephesians 6.


#16. Jason.

This was mother’s first baby.
She was 22 and did such a good job pushing.

Some interesting things to note:
there was history of cosanguinity,
which means marrying into the same bloodline.

Sometimes,
with arranged marriages,
people get married to their cousins,
or very close within the family... to keep money in the family, or for whatever reason.

The mother's name was Parveen,
she was Muslim, and very sweet.

When she saw that she had a boy, she was ecstatic!!
She kept saying,
“My dream has come true! My first baby, a boy!”



#17. Matthew.

Another adorable baby boy.
The mother was 18, first baby.
She was showing signs of pre-eclampsia, but to my knowledge never had any fits.
Praise the Lord!



#18. Noah.

This was my biggest baby!
Weighing in at a hefty 3.9 kilos... this baby was a full-term chubba!
He also came with a flood of waters,
hence,
Noah.


#19. Moses.

Another bouncing baby boy.
This was the mother's third child,
so it didn't take long at all for him to come into the world.

I prayed and got the name
"Moses"....
that his small beginnings
would become something large.









#20. Michael.

This little boy was really cute.

The mom (second child) was really calm and focused during labour.

I didn’t get a picture till upstairs in postnatal,
and the family had already dressed him up in baby clothes.
They put a triangle bandana thing on his head, probably from a piece of old sari,
and I think he looks like a pirate!
The 22 year old mom is out of the picture, laying down on the bed, resting.
The woman in the blue head covering is the mother’s mother. Proud grandmother.
I’m not quite sure who the one holding the baby is... but I presume a close family member.
They were also very excited it was a boy.

My last two births, 21 and 22,
turned out to be quite significant, and I ended up writing quite a bit for them.
Lots to process.

So those will come soon.


Thanks for tuning in!